The college, in partnership with the Portage County Health Department and Emergency Management Agency, conducted a mock disease outbreak investigation on July 12 for 27 high school students enrolled in Upward Bound, the university’s summer pre-college program for first-generation, low-income students from targeted school districts.

The mock investigation included a dozen public health undergraduate and graduate students “contracting” salmonella from Pete’s Pickle Stand, a fictitious campus restaurant.

The Upward Bound students acted as epidemiologists, interviewing the sickened and determining a common exposure. Some also posed as health inspectors, examining the food facility. Other students worked in a diagnostic lab unit to determine the infectious agent. Finally, several students served as health commissioners, coordinating the investigation from the Portage County emergency command vehicle and fielding questions from the media.WEWS News Channel 5 and The Record-Courier sent journalists to cover the event.

“The goal was to engage students to understand there’s an emergency management system in place and to give them a taste of what public health is all about,” says emergency management consultant Annette Petranic, president of Pavlick Consulting Group, Inc., who helped to coordinate the event. “Students learned in a few hours what would take weeks to cover in a lecture hall,” she adds.

As a top Ohio undergraduate and graduate school, Kent State's eight campuses offer the resources of a large university with the friendly atmosphere of a liberal arts college. Enroll today to start pursuing your future at one of the best colleges in Ohio. We’ve been educating graduates for over 100 years; join us today.